Sweet Tooth Sunday-more on Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies.

You knew that was coming didn't you?

I tried 3 more recipes this weekend.

Normally I would have been through every suggested recipe and a dozen more by now, but since now everyone knows that I'm pregnant, I can admit that I'm sick as a dog and blame that for my lack of baking.

Also for my lack of running. And that is really ticking me off. 9 days since my last run. The fact I can't run on a daily (or even every other day) basis is kind of killing my plans for the half marathon I was banking on in March. With any luck I'll get out today. We'll see.

Back to cookies.

The 3 recipes I tried this weekend were all suggested in the comments on that original cookie quest post.

Recap on the first two recipes:

This one, "The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Ever", was good. The dough was great. I liked it quite a bit, but it didn't make me giddy with excitement.

This one, "The Last Chocolate Chip Cookie", wasn't bad, but I didn't like it as much. I will admit that I did not use turbinado sugar (my closest store is 12 miles away. I'm not making a 30 minute round trip to pay through the nose for a different sugar), so maybe that would make that special difference. Don't know. Maybe I'll grab some next time I'm out and retry. Though I would then contend that I should be able to default to chocolate chip cookies at any time using things that I normally have on hand. Turbinado sugar is not one of those things.

So, the next three.

These recipes were suggested by LL (Martha Stewart's basic drop cookie-using choc chips as the "add in"), Heather (the Kitchen Aid recipe), and Cassie's recipe.

My kids loved all three. Big shocker there, right?

I took all three recipes (pretty darn fresh from the oven!) to our friends who we hung out with on Saturday so we could all eat cookies together while we laughed so hard we almost peed our pants. It was lovely. ("Oh! John Wayne!") No complaints, good comments on all three recipes.

Also, if you happen to live close, please feel free to call me any day and ask if I have cookies sitting here that need to be evaluated. Odds are the answer is yes, and I'd love your opinion.

Before I break down my original thoughts, I will disclaimer that I felt awful on Sat night. It probably wasn't the best time to taste test cookies, but I have more dough and will be rebaking all of these today (feeling slightly more human right now), so I will let you know if that changes my opinions.

#1: The Martha Stewart recipe

This cookie looks very good. That probably sounds stupid, but I'm serious. This looks like what a good cookie should look like. And like LL promised, texture varied from firm and crisp on the outside to soft in the middle-a good cookie for dunking. When I mentioned to my friend that it didn't knock my socks off she was surprised. "Really? I think it's really good." Not bad, but I didn't find myself swirling away in a pretend world singing "OHHHH sweet mystery of life at last I've found you!"

#2: The Kitchen Aid recipe

Again, not bad, but just didn't do it for me. I like the consistency of the cookie-more flour than most recipes (3 cups instead of the standard 2 1/4-2 1/2), and yet it didn't make it tough at all. Aaron keeps asking me to do this recipe again, but use milk chocolate chips. That says a lot because he only likes one recipe.

#3: Cassie's recipe

I have to admit I was curious, especially because one of the ingredients in this recipe vanilla pudding mix. Huh? Going against my belief that choc chip cookies should only contain basics that I always have on hand, I had to try it. I was curious. It was a Saturday night, you know how far I live from the store, and I had no vanilla pudding. Thankfully a friend of ours did, so I promptly shooed my husband out in the cold to go steal their food. Good times!

I may have to start buying vanilla pudding regularly.

This was my favorite recipe this weekend. I worried that they would taste like pudding, but they didn't. Good texture, good consistency. These were also my other friend's favorites. This is a man who claims chocolate chip cookies are his weakness. He did admit that it may have been his favorite because it was the first one he tried, but he did go back for more of this one, so I'll take that as a good sign.

(I neglected to take a picture of this finished product)

I tried the suggestion that someone offered me of rolling instead of just scooping.

For comparison I did half of each sheet. I noticed a slight difference, but not as much as I expected I guess. Verdict? Not sure. Easier to just use the scoop still probably. When it gets down to the final two recipes, I'll do the rolling vs scooping thing again and see if I find a difference.

So, as of right now, the two reigning champions are Cassie's recipe (can be found in the comments of the original cookie quest post) and the first recipe I tried, "The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Ever" that is on the Savory Sweet Life site.

I am baking this afternoon, so I will let you know if my opinion on any of these recipes is different on a day when I don't feel so sick I could curl up in bed and die.

Next up: Denise's recipe and Annie's recipe (also both in the comments on the original post), and one I'm putting together myself.......